AN ASTRONAUT’S life is already fraught with danger, but two recent studies show that attempts to help astronauts who are injured in space may put them at even greater risk. A study with monkeys suggests that emergency surgery within hours of returning to Earth could prove fatal, while an international team of anaesthetists claims that medical equipment on the space shuttle for keeping an astronaut breathing in an emergency is inadequate.
Only the healthiest people can become astronauts. But during lengthy spells in space, for example on the International Space Station or on a mission to Mars, serious health problems…
